MCCHRYSTAL TREATED DIFFERENT THAN SHIRROD

I want to say upfront that I am white and am not racist against blacks. Listening to Shirley Shirrod's full story about her life, I can certainly understand how she might have reacted when confronted with her first white client in trying to save his farm. This was a "human emotion" based on her past experiences with whites. I understand how she might have felt and am in deep sympathy for her.

I was raised in the deep south and "thankfully" did not ever witness any overtly violent actions against the blacks. What I saw was that they had to sit in the back of the bus, did not go to the same schools as the whites, and did not eat in the same restaurants, et al. Even though I never saw any overtly violent actions, I did not understand then, but I do now, and realize how "hurt" they were by way they were treated, as if they were "second class citizens."

Side bar: Discrimination exists in all forms. Examples: A lot of Harvard graduates look down on a simple automobile mechanic. A lot of rich men look down on a homeless person. Get my drift?

Everyone has went ballistic over the firing of Shirley Shirrod and nobody seemed to really care when McChrystal lost his job. Why is that? If McChrystal had been black, would the situation have turned out different as it has for Shirrod?

When McChrystal was forced to resign due to a magazine article written by Michael Hastings for the Rolling Stone magazine, I seemed to be the only one upset about it. It seemed ludicrous to me that a magazine article written by a writer with a dubious lifestyle could possibly have cost McChrystal his job, a man who graduated from West Point and spent his entire adult life defending this country, as if the article was 100% accurate and not to be questioned in any way regarding its validity.

Now, with this Shirley Shirrod case, I feel exactly the same way. Why in the world would anyone representing the White House jump on the bandwagon so fast and ask this woman to resign due to what was posted on a blog. A blog mind you! What happened to "innocent" until proven "guilty." In a warped sort of way, I am actually glad this happened to her because it has brought national attention to the problem of "don't believe everything you see and hear" until you hear all of the facts. Something drastic needed to happen to wake people up! I hate that it happened to her though.

Like I have said before, some people are like baby birds in that they sit with their mouths wide open and swallow anything dropped in without using their brains to question/analyze the facts.

Side bar: Sarah Palin is an example. Hateful and untruthful words were spewed out, over and over again, until she is a "joke" in some people's eyes. The liberal media is almost gushing with remorse over the travesty brought down on Shirley Shirrod. How about Sarah Palin? They are not only unrepentant but actually glad that they have brought "hell" down on her head. Go figure! Would she be so hated by the liberals if she was black?

Another interesting aspect of this event is that the Democrats are jumping on the bandwagon to place all the blame on the Republicans for this debacle with Shirley Shirrod.

Back to racism. There is a lot of talk about racism lately, as if the problem is always "whites being racist against blacks." I live in the deep south and I only know of one person personally who is racist. I realize there are probably still a number of whites that are actually racist but I just don't come in contact with them.

Some people confuse a white's dislike of a black as being racist during some altercation/event/problem when it is simply that they have a very real reason for disliking that person, whether black or white, and it has absolutely nothing to do with race.

On the other hand, I will agree that racism is still alive and well in my area. I realize that this statement is a contradiction from what I just wrote above. Since I was a child, I have seen racism turn around dramatically and now feel that the blacks are more racist towards us whites, rather than vise-versa. The Census Bureau states there is 50% whites and 46% blacks in Mobile. It would be very interesting if someone took a poll amongst the whites and blacks to ascertain the amount of racism that exists between the two groups. One thing is certain, the blacks use the "race card" every chance they get to hedge their bets against a white person. Do I blame them? No! They feel that it is "payback time." It is a "human emotion."

Everybody...well, maybe not everybody...thinks that racism should come to an end. Okay...then everyone should take personal responsibility and do their part to end it. The bible says it well, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I might add...regardless of race...and station in life.